


Meeting the Senator

by silverlysilence



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Kryptonite, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 11:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6421147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverlysilence/pseuds/silverlysilence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Batman knew there was something shady about the Senator. The evidence of her underhanded dealings were being trafficked through his city, but just how far did her involvement go? That was something he intended to find out. He had a plan laid out and everything, however, that plan hadn't included Superman's arrival. Well, at least not for another five minutes and twenty-eight seconds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting the Senator

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first DC fanfic. Please tell me what you think.

"Leave.  Now," Batman growled out, his voice rougher than normal with a certain edge to it that should have sent shivers of fear down a normal person's spine.  However, the man between him and his current target didn't even flinch.  Instead, ethereal blue eyes narrowed and large muscular arms clad in tight blue fabric crossed over an equally muscular chest, covering up the golden crest of the House of El.  Even the man's damned red cape refused to move at the Bat's glare despite the soft breeze coming from the window he had slipped through hours before.  

"No," came Superman's terse, unemotional reply.  The Dark Knight let out another growl. This one filled with the same anger that had gloved hands tightening into fists.  Eyes narrowed behind white lenses at the older woman behind the Man of Steel who took a step back as if sensing his gaze on her, retreating further into the corner and away from him.  Yet, there was nowhere for her to go, no way for her to escape. Good. Just because the fucking alien felt the need to get in the way of his mission didn't mean he wanted to track the woman down again.   

He had spent the last two months following the trafficking of goods through Gotham's black-market, searching for the destination of the illegal substance being transported through his city. Hunting for a face to put with the alias he interrogated from one of the drivers transporting the merchandise. But when the face had turned out to belong to a certain Senator, he couldn't say he had been shocked.  He even suspected he knew what she wanted with the substance.  That did not mean he had all the answers, just theories and suspicions. There were still many questions left unanswered.  

Was the Senator the head of the operation?  Or was she just another lackey?  A scapegoat for the government if things went south?  Were there any other shipments other than those he had already intercepted?  And what had become of the three shipment which had managed to leave Gotham before he had stumbled upon the smuggling operation?  Where were they now?  What were her _plans_?  

Answers which he could have extracted from the Senator if not for Kal-El intervening.  He had painstakingly planned out every detail for his little meeting with the Senator and executed them perfectly. From hacking into the Senator's PA’s Blackberry to rearrange her layover flight to land in Gotham instead of Metropolis, to Bruce Wayne running into her little dinner meeting with a few other politicians, which allowed him to plant a tracker on her, everything was going as planned.

He had even arranged the rendezvous for when the bloody alien was supposed to be at home.  So how Superman had gotten to Gotham from his Fortress of Solitude as fast as he had, the Dark Knight didn't know.  He had estimated – if Superman even became aware of his plans in the first place – he would have five minutes and twenty-eight seconds before the alien's arrival.   Batman hated to be proven wrong.  Moreover, when it interfered with his carefully laid plans.  

"Gotham is my city," the Dark Knight allowed his voice to drop even lower, letting the anger he felt bleed in. The implication he didn’t interfere with Metropolis affairs hung in the air, unsaid.

Superman clenched his teeth, the action so miniscule a normal person wouldn’t have noticed – but the World’s Greatest Detective caught it immediately – and floated just a tad higher in the air. “And I assist those in need of help anywhere that includes _Gotham_.”

This time, it was Batman who had to keep himself in check. “This doesn’t concern you.”  

"I fail to see how that makes it alright to attack a U.S. Senator."

“It is when she’s using her position to traffic illegal substances through my city,” the man purposely let some of the information he gathered slip in hopes of getting Superman to back off.

He didn’t. “I highly doubt the Senator is involved in anything of the sort.”

The alien’s dismissal of the accusation had Batman right on the edge of his breaking point. He couldn’t believe the amount of faith Kal put in the Senator just because she was a part of the government. That alone was reason enough to be suspicious of her. Anyone with any _real_ power or wealth had their own plans and agendas and many would stop at nothing to complete them.

Although, the less pessimistic side of him pointed out to the Bat that not everyone’s agendas were nefarious in nature. Superman was a very good example of that. He was also the exception to the rule. He wasn’t even human after all. However, that optimistic thought was pushed to the back of his mind as the numerous files of the Senator’s illegal dealings floated to the surface.

“You naïve optimistic _fool_! Don’t-“

“He’s right,” Batman’s rant was disrupted as the Senator took a step around the Man of Steel and came to a stop by his side. “I have been using my position to transport some dangerous materials.”

“What?” and for the first time that night, emotion laced the alien’s words and the Dark Knight couldn’t help the smug feeling from bubbling up at the surprise in the man’s voice. However, the feeling was quickly squashed with a vengeance at the Senator’s admission of guilt.

“Who are you working with? Where are the other shipments being stored?” the Bat took a threatening step towards the woman. The action completely lost on the Senator as aging blue eyes were staring at Superman. She reached up to place a hand on Kal’s shoulder, but thought better of it and let it fall to her side.

“I’m not working with anyone,” Senator dropped her head, shaking it slowly in shame and Batman wanted to call her out. The guilt shining in her eyes was telling. There was more going on here then he had originally been able to uncover in his initial investigation.

He knew the woman before him. The detective had done extensive research into her history and knew she couldn’t fake her current emotions. She looked honestly remorseful, filled with regret which had the Dark Knight assuming the Senator might have been backed into a corner. Blackmailed most likely and he had a feeling he knew what that blackmail material was.

“If you’re being blackmailed, I can help. I can protect your son.” Because the Senator was a mother first and foremost. Batman knew from her history she was very family oriented and after losing her husband less than two years ago, her son was all she had left. He had made sure the boy wouldn’t be hurt, having dosed the hotel’s bottled water in the minibar with a strong sleeping agent. It had been necessary, since the Senator’s son had come to Gotham for a surprise visit with his mother while the university was on break. He wasn’t even sure if the woman knew her son was even sleeping heavily in the next room over.

“You don’t understand. I’m doing this for my _son_ , to keep him _safe_ ,” the Senator seemed like she was going to say more, but it was bit back at the last second and she hung her head in defeat.

“What are you transporting?” Batman almost cursed himself having momentarily forgotten the Man of Steel’s presence as his mind worked in overdrive attempting to make sense of it all, trying to fit together the pieces of the puzzle he had gotten. Yet, the World’s Greatest Detective was coming up short. He was missing some very important pieces to the puzzle.

Because of his momentary lapse in judgement, the Dark Knight couldn’t stop the woman from answering despite all his efforts from keeping the knowledge from the alien. “Kryptonite.”

The soft thud of Superman’s feet meeting the ground was almost deafening, the expression on his face devastated. It was as if by merely mentioning the rock’s name was akin to him being subjected to the crippling effects the pieces of his home planet had on him. Kal looked as if his whole world was being destroyed once again.

“But it’s not what you think,” the Senator defend herself, glancing at Batman with tears prickling in the corner of her eyes. “The meteor shower struck our hometown, scattering Kryptonite all over. We didn’t know better, no one knew at the time the meteors were radioactive. We just left them there, building over the damage and the Kryptonite. Over the years the affects they have along with their potency have gotten stronger, infecting more and more people. I had to get rid of them. To protect my son from them, to kept him – and everyone else – safe.”

“What have you done with the Kryptonite then?” Batman demanded, not quiet believing the Senator. He still distrusted the woman. However, he seemed to be the only one. Going by the soft smile Superman had on his face, Kal was completely taken in by her story and the woman knew it too. The smile of relief on her face spoke volumes.

“Of the shipments you didn’t intercept?” she countered with a raised eyebrow, the confidence she was known for coming back now that she had Superman’s trust. Batman nearly growled again, but held back, not sure if he was more angry she had swayed Kal to her side or that Kal had sided with her despite her admitting she had been trafficking _Kryptonite_ to who knowns where. “They went to a refinery where it was destroyed.”

“How would a refinery destroy Kryptonite? It’s near indestructible.”

“Well, not really destroyed, just inert. When superheated, Kryptonite losses its radioactive properties,” the Senator explained and he wondered why the woman thought it was smart to lie to his face. He knew radiation couldn’t be eradicated through extreme heat, Kryptonite might have come from a doomed planet but half-lives were a universal.

Something must have given away his skepticism, because Superman slowly nodded his head in confirmation. “She’s telling the truth. Most Kryptonite, when superheated, will turn clear and isn’t harmful to human. It can still pierce my skin, but I won’t get sick by just being around it.”

“How did you come about the knowledge of this refining method? I’ve studied Kryptonite and have tried various methods without success, yet you just happen to know the one method which makes it inert. That should seem a bit suspicious, even to you Superman,” the Dark Knight’s annoyance with Kal for not informing him about the refining process before bleeding through his usual unflappable demeanor and into his words.

Superman froze before looking over at the Senator. The two shared a look, which had the hair on the back of his neck bristling because that right there, that was an act of familiarity. A familiarity which Batman hadn’t known about; nowhere in the woman’s history had it even hinted at that the two knew each other. Finally, the Senator smiled and gave a minuscule nod of her head which had Kal turning back to look at him directly.

However, there was something different about him. The Dark Knight couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but there was something fundamentally different about Superman. It could have been a combination of things; from the way he no longer held himself up to the way the air around him didn’t seem charged. Or it could have been the emotions which filled the pools of icy blue eyes. Whatever it was, it was like Batman was looking at a whole different person. Someone younger, someone _human_.

“I trust her, Batman, she would never do anything to hurt me,” and was that a hint of a Midwestern accent in Superman’s voice?

“And how can you be so sure of that?”

“Because,” the brunet shrugged, a completely human gesture which he had never seen Kal do before. The lopsided grin on his face was just as alien. “She’s my mother.”

“It’s a please to meet you, Batman,” Senator Martha Kent of Kansas politely greeted the Dark Knight with a smile. “And thank you. I appreciate that there is someone else out there looking after my little boy’s safety.”

“ _Ma!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something, this is what came out. Just for reference, Bruce doesn't know Superman has another identity other than Kal-El. No one knows that Kal-El was raised as Clark Kent other than the Kents. Also, I was trying to fool you into thinking Martha was the Senator from BvS movie, but surprise, it's just Clark's ma.


End file.
